Code Monkey's Blog

Gearing up for changes, Part II

codemonkey@desertmooncircle.com — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:38:26 GMT

Bearing in mind the high investment cost of all this proposed server hardware, plus electricity to run all of these server systems, I decided that I would pay my old friend VMWare a visit. VMWare is software that allows you to partition a single computers hardware into many "logical" computers, each able to run their own operating system and software independent of any other "logical" computers running under the same hardware umbrella. Now I have used VMWare to emulate desktops of various operating systems as a test bed for my software development since the 90's, but I never "hunkered down" with it and used it in more than a passive manner. Knowing that VMWare, in a battle for marketshare with Microsoft's competing Hyper-V technology (more on that soon), has made their VMWare Server 2.0 software available for free, I decided that I would design my infrastructure to be a "virtual infrastructure", and set about my way to make this happen.

So now I have my virtual infrastructure designed in my head, I need to consider the workstation where all of the programming and graphic design will take place. I want to have "sandboxes" in which to test DesertMoonCircle.com in without causing downtime to the actual website, and without having to change a bunch of different configuration settings when going from test servers to production servers - this requires me to mimic the actual production environment as closely as possible. Again, virtualization is the key player here, and these tasks in particular are of the variety that virtualization handles the best. Only this time, on the workstation side of the road, I will use Microsoft's Hyper-V (which I touched upon earlier) for a variety of reasons (more on that in another blog post).

After all of this planning, I realized that I had forgotten something. As many of you know, Caria and I have a pretty kick ass Media Center setup in our home, allowing us instant on-demand access to our extensive collection of movies, music and photos from nearly anywhere in our home, including my office, which has seating and an HDTV in order to serve double duty as my recluse of solitude. I forgot to figure in the fact that my server operating systems do not include the Media Center application. So I had to re-arrange my infrastructure design to accommodate for an operating system with Media Center access within my office. Whoops. But you know what, it turned out rather interesting, as I'll explain in the next part of this seemingly endless blog post...

Gearing up for changes, Part I

codemonkey@desertmooncircle.com — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 02:06:20 GMT

As many of you already know, I live in a constant state of upgrade. That's right, I constantly strive to make things better, prettier or easier for both DesertMoonCircle.com and my own home office and networks. Some would say it's an obsession, but I call it an art. Anyway, I have some changes planned for DesertMoonCircle.com - yes, upgrades once again - but they are sweeping in scope and require a bit more planning than any of the previous upgrades. This has resulted in a necessity to re-arrange and rebuild the various servers and support systems that reside on the disconnected back end of DesertMoonCircle.com - my home office, and in this process I intend to do some refining of the technologies that I have used for years to whip up a more "professional" system.

First and foremost in the lineup was our backend connection to the internet. I am constantly accessing the website and approving or removing items from the forums or the front page news sections and such. This takes time, and although I could chunk out a bunch more cash for a "business grade" internet connection, it made more sense economically to try to find a way to better optimize our usage rather than just ramp up the raw speed. To do this, I planned to introduced a new internet gateway server into the network, utilizing the new Threat Management Gateway software from Microsoft that provides internet access caching and firewalling abilities. TMG is basically the 2009 version of Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA), but revamped for 64-bit and the speed enhancements of newer processors. So now I would have an edge firewall and caching system in place, but I couldn't risk exposing information by having internal server systems running on the very same gateway, that is a huge security risk as TMG's primary goal is to protect the interior of the network, with everything behind it's firewall. Having internal server systems sit side by side with TMG would defeat that purpose.

So now I have to introduce a forward caching DNS server and a DHCP server to provide the infrastructure necessary to hand out the necessary settings to each of the network clients to actually use the TMG's caching abilities, yet allowing all of them unrestricted and speedy access to the internet, all while keeping them tucked safely away behind the firewall. So yet, another server is needed. Oh boy, that's a lot of hardware. Or, maybe not...

Chock full o' nerd

codemonkey@desertmooncircle.com — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:14:31 GMT

Well, I posed a question on the forums a while back asking if anyone were interested in my documenting some of the transformation, trials and tribulations that our website, servers and backend servers have been and will be continuing to make over the course of a few months, with a few people expressing interest.

So, later this evening I will begin my posts on the technology that drives DesertMoonCircle.com, how it came to be, and where it is going. Maybe a few other self-made webmasters like myself will get a little something out of it.

Let the geeky-ness begin!

Wow, been a long time.

codemonkey@desertmooncircle.com — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 21:22:39 GMT

I didn't realize how long it had been since I had posted a blog. I sincerely apologize, and I have committed myself to trying to remedy that situation somewhat here in the near future...

More...

Those Waskilly Wiccans!

codemonkey@desertmooncircle.com — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:34:00 GMT

Food, Family, Fun. Pagan Pride Day is all that and more!

More...

Art Imitates Life

codemonkey@desertmooncircle.com — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:27:00 GMT

Anyone who knows me or Caria, or has ever been to our home can appreciate the comic below. Interesting how closely art imitates life

A big thanks goes out to B-Ro, a coworker friend of ours for making us aware of this comic. The funny part is that he has absolutely no idea how spot-on this is.

Many thanks to our extended family and friends!

codemonkey@desertmooncircle.com — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:26:00 GMT

Caria and I would like to extend our gratitude to all those who helped and supported us during our recent move into our new home, both with the painting of the new house and moving all of our possessions from the old house to the new house.

In the coming weeks we will be announcing a steak dinner and drinks for all of those who lent a helping hand.

Thank you once again!